The Trap
by TheToastCrumb
Summary: Action-packed Alpha Force fic. My first ever fanfic!Please R&R! Chapter 8 now up!
1. Chapter 1

**Ooooooh! My first ever fanfic! Exciting. Anyway. It's slightly strange but please R+R!**

**Disclaimer: Anything you might recognize from the Alpha Force books belongs to Chris Ryan. Not me. Even the plot doesn't really belong to me because it's based on the beginning of Rat Catcher.**

It was midnight. The darkness seeped through the forest and covered the surroundings. There were no lights. It was silent too. The only noises that could be heard came from the undergrowth. Small rustles that indicated the forest's night life was about. Spread out through the forest, five teenagers were waiting. Waiting to spring their trap.

Amber pulled her night-vision goggles off and dropped them on the floor in front of her. She shuddered as she heard a twig crack behind her. Why was it so important to do this now? It was cold and damp. She silently cursed Alex for his 'brilliant' idea. She pulled her sleek black jacket closer around her and glanced at her plain dark wristwatch. Two minutes past midnight. She sighed, grabbed her night-vision goggles from the floor and slapped them back on her head.

Alex remained crouched behind the tree. All he had to do was wait. Wait for Hex to crack the code. He shuffled around a bit, trying to keep quiet. Alex would admit that it was uncomfortable, but he knew that it was necessary. It had to be tonight. The assassin would come tonight.

Li was going through her plan that she was going to use when Hex finally cracked the code and they could break in to the assassin's base. She already knew from past experience that there would be pressure pads, or at least a tricky alarm system only the likes of Hex would be able to work out. She was certain that there would be invisible laser beams, waiting to trap any unwanted visitors in with their automatic alarm system. Li and Hex had already planned how they would combine their skills to make sure that the other members of Alpha Force could pass through safely.

On the other side of the forest, Paulo was keeping his beady eyes fixed on the still silhouette in the distance. Alex had given him the job of watching Hex's every move, and Paulo was glad to have something to do rather than sit and wait until the signal came. Paulo yawned and rubbed his eyes. It was far too late for his liking. He willed Hex on in his head, trying to send him a telepathic message telling him to hurry up. As if Hex had read his mind, Paulo was suddenly blinded by a flashing light. The signal. It was time to go.

"You took your time," Hex grinned wickedly as Amber, Li, Paulo and Alex finally arrived outside the assassin's base, panting heavily.

"Ha ha, Hex," said Amber sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him. "Very funny. I'm laughing so much."

"I'm so glad you liked my little joke," smirked Hex, returning the eye-roll.

"Anyway," Alex interrupted, trying to avoid the start of World War Three, "we saw your signal. I assume that means you have good news."

"Of course. I cracked the code," boasted Hex smugly.

After a quick team huddle, Hex tapped in a code on the control pad outside the door. He pushed the well-polished brass handle and the door swung open with ease. Just as the team were about to rush inside, Li held out her arm and stopped them.

"Wait!"she said, a wild look in her eyes "Remember when we broke into the military base on the practice mission Amber's uncle set up for us?"

The team nodded.

"There were pressure pads under the door mat!" Li finished.

"Good thinking, Li" Alex congratulated her as they all watched Hex carefully peeled back the door mat.

"De ja vu," muttered Hex, as he revealed four small pressure pads carefully placed beneath the mat.

The team carefully stepped around the pressure pads and into the main part of the base. Amber quickly made a mental note of her surroundings. The pitch black walls made the atmosphere dark and gloomy. The only shred of light that the team had was coming from the small, dim lamps which were hanging from the ceiling. A disgusting stench was wafting up Amber's nose; it was like sweat mixed with…blood.

"Stay here," Hex whispered, rummaging in his rucksack, "No-one move a muscle."

Hex found what he was looking for and pulled it out of his rucksack.

"Fixative spray?" Amber questioned, raising her eyebrows.

"It contains a chemical that will reveal any laser lines," Li explained, "Clever, hm?"

Hex shook the can and pressed his finger down on the spray-release. Immediately about thirty long red lines, lasers presumably, were revealed.

"Can you do it, Li?" Alex asked anxiously, "It looks tough."

"Maybe I should…" Paulo trailed off as Li glared at him.

"Guys, relax," Li sighed. "Who here abseiled a massive rock-face at a dangerous speed with no ropes whilst being chased by modern-day pirates?"

"You, Li," Alex muttered quietly while Paulo just nodded.

"Precisely," said Li, before twisting her long, black, silky hair into a knot on top of her head and pulling on a camouflage cream hat.

Li expertly twisted and turned through the lasers, bending into near-impossible shapes. When she reached the end she turned back and grinned at the rest of Alpha Force.

"Easy peasy," she smiled.

"So, code-boy, what now?" asked Amber, using the nickname she'd given Hex long, long ago.

Hex gave Amber a sarcastic, withering look and then turned back to Li.

"OK, Li. You see the switch unit to your left?" he began.

Li looked around and then replied "Yup."

"I want you to tap the screen and tell me what happens."

Li did as she was told. The system told her to enter a valid username and password. "This'll be great for you, code-boy. I need a username and password."

"Easy. Try 'assassin' for username and 'password' for password."

"It says it's invalid," said Li when she had done this.

"Ah. OK then. If he wants to play it like that then try 'killer' as a username and 'password' again as a password.

"Okey-dokey," Li grinned before tapping it into the system. "Yes! It worked!"

"Honestly, such a basic mistake." Hex muttered.

"What now?" asked Li "Should I press 'disable lasers and tripwires'?"

"What do you think?" muttered Hex sarcastically "On one hand, you could disable the traps and let us all pass through safely. On the other hand however, you could press exit and get us discovered. Hmmm. Tricky."

"Yeah, yeah" Li rolled her eyes as she disabled the trip system.

When the lasers disappeared, the rest of the team hurried to join Li.

"Now all we have to do is wait for the assassin to show up," Alex whispered.

"Easy peasy," grinned Alpha Force in unison.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi again! Sorry for the slow update, but you know how school work weighs you down! As a result of all the school work, this chapter is maybe not as good as it could be, but I wanted to get an update up and out of the way! As always, please R+R!**

**Disclaimer: The things that belong to Chris Ryan on here are not mine!!!**

_Two months earlier..._

A knock at the door alerted General Luis Manteca.

"Come," he ordered.

The wooden door creaked open and in walked a tall, slim man, all dressed in black. The General acknowledged the dark eye mask and the cocky swagger that the man had become accustomed to.

"Sit," the General barked at him sharply. "And what is your name?"

"I don't think that this is the time or place for pleasantries," the man said smoothly, "But you may call me...Shadow."

The General raised his eyebrows slightly, then held his hand out for Shadow to shake. Naturally, Shadow ignored the outstretched arm.

"Humph," Shadow muttered. "What did you call me for General? A mission, I hope."

"Of course," said the General, snapping back into action.

For a minute or so, the General rummaged around in a drawer in his desk. Finding what he was looking for, he straightened up and slid a package across the table. Shadow opened up the package and blinked hard.

"Kids?" he asked.

"Kids," General Manteca nodded.

"But they look so sweet, so...innocent," said Shadow, letting his hard shell slip-slide away.

"Sweet? Innocent? You must be joking," sneered the General. "These kids...well, let's just say I fell into their trap."

"I see," Shadow raised an eyebrow. "So, you want me to kill these kids?"

General Manteca nodded.

"Any reasons, any preferred method of death?" Shadow rattled off his usual questions.

"The reason is classified. Preferred method of death... something slow. I want them to suffer just as much as I have," the General smirked to himself.

"Of course, sir," Shadow was amused by the General's delight in the moment that he had so obviously been looking forward to for such a long time. "There is of course, the matter of the fee. What do you feel comfortable with?"

"Well, how much are you used to?" the General asked, baffled.

"Two hundred grand," Shadow automatically said, aware that it was a higher price than ever he had been paid before, but also that General Manteca had no ideas whatsoever when it came to prices.

Without thinking, the General held out his hand and barked, "Done."

**Sorry that it was quite short! The next chapter, which I will start either later today or tomorrow, will be longer. Promise! Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**OK, here's the deal. I promised a longer chapter, yes? Well... I wanted to leave you on a cliffhanger so...I didn't do along chapter. I also have another idea for a oneshot forming in my head but I want to finish this fic before moving onto another, otherwise I'll just abandon it. Sorry!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Alpha Force, or anything else that you might recognise from the books. Wish I did though...**

_Back in the assassin's base..._

Amber shuffled around and groaned. "Just tell me again," she turned to Alex, "Why did we have to do this tonight?"

"Because...just because, OK?" Alex sighed, irritated. It seemed like he had answered that question more than one thousand times.

"Now be a good little girly, and SHUT UP!" added Hex patronisingly.

"Fine," Amber groaned reluctantly, "But I expect to be treated to a five star dinner after this!"

Alpha Force laughed until Paulo hushed them.

"I hear something," he said, in his thick Spanish accent.

Alex put a finger to his lips and pointed to the door. When, after a few minutes, there was nothing, Li piped up.

"This is ridiculous," she sighed, before moving to stand up.

A single gunshot echoed in the silence. Li slowly crouched back down, behind the cupboard where they were all hiding. A menacing voice pierced through the darkness and the stillness.

"I know you're in here, Alpha Force," they heard, "Don't you try and play games with me. You're teenagers. Surely you're too old for hide and seek."

For what seemed like hours, there was an eerie silence as the assassin crept around the place, holding his gun up high.

"Gah, who am I kidding? There's no one here!" he sighed.

"Phew!" Hex grinned as he heard the door slam shut.

"Hex!" shouted Alex, but it was too late.

"Gotcha!" the assassin grinned with a crazed look in his eyes. "They always fall for that one! You're coming with me now, Alpha Force!"

**So there we have it. The promised cliffhanger. I'm on fire! Hopefully the next chapter will be longer *crosses fingers for luck*.Please review!!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Me again! This was a very slow update – sorry! Thank you to BNTN, emmadactryl and spinkle for your reviews! As promised, this chapter is longer by about a mile. Please, please, please R+R!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alpha Force or anything else you may recognise.**

Alex's eyes fluttered open. He quickly screwed them up again as he was blinded by a flashing light.

"Wha – what?" he croaked.

Slowly he sat up and opened his eyes. His head was swimming and he couldn't remember a thing. Shakily, he reached his hand up to his blonde hair. It was matted with bright red blood. He seemed to come to his senses... a fight. He could remember a fight. He blinked, trying to remember more. They had taken the others away. As more memories returned to him, he took in more of his surroundings. The room he was in resembled a laboratory, it was clean and white and as sterile as a doctor's surgery. There was a table to his right; on top of it were several test tubes, each containing a different chemical. A surge of power suddenly washed over him like a wave in the sea. The new power forced Alex to stand up. Leaning on the table next to him, he gradually got to his feet, shaking. He reached his head forward and vomited onto the hard white floor. He groaned and reached his hand out to steady himself as he suddenly felt dizzy. Again power surged through his body. He had to find the others!

* * *

Along the corridor, four teenagers lay unconscious. They were a heap of bodies on a cold stone floor. The silence that filled the air was deafening. But then... a movement. If you weren't looking closely then you would have missed it, but it was definitely there. One teenager was awake.

* * *

Li opened her eyes. She immediately felt a sharp pain searing through her left arm. A heavy male body was lying on top of her, his head slumped back and deep red blood seeping out of a crack in his forehead. His dark curly hair was covered in blood. Dark curly hair. Paulo. Li now felt a pointy elbow digging into her back. Slowly, she eased an unconscious Paulo off her stomach and dragged herself up off the pile of bodies. She now noted that the sharp elbow had belonged to Amber, who, like Paulo, had blood streaming down her face, but, unlike Paulo, the blood was coming from her right eye. Li's skinny but muscular arms were able to lift Amber's drooping form off the last body. She was now able to check that Amber, Paulo and the mystery body were breathing well. Then two thoughts came to her at once. The first was that there were only four members of Alpha Force in the dark dingy room, meaning that one of Alpha Force was missing, and secondly that, seeing as the last body had spiky dark hair, Alex was the one missing. Then she remembered the task on hand: checking her friends' breathing. Firstly Li checked Amber's breathing. She had worked out that it would be best to check her first as Amber was a diabetic and it was possibly more serious if her breathing wasn't regular. Li bent down and put her ear to Amber's mouth so her breath was tickling her cheek. 1...2...3...4...5... perfect. Amber was in a crooked position: her arms were twisted under her body and her right leg, her best leg, was bent upwards so her toes practically touched her forehead! Li put her into a more comfortable position and then moved on to Hex's breathing. She went through exactly the same procedure as she had with Amber. This time when Li put her head to Hex's mouth she had to strain her ears to hear his breathing but it was definitely regular: she could feel it on her face. Li stayed down slightly longer than she had for Amber, purely for the reason that Hex's breathing wasn't as audible. When Li was completely satisfied that his breathing was regular, she moved on to Paulo. As she tiptoed across the room, she listened for sounds from outside the dark room. She knew that a trap had been set up to catch them. Li was angry with herself that she had let herself and the others fall into it so easily. She reached Paulo and put her head close to his. She couldn't hear a thing. She couldn't feel a thing. Li kept her head down to Paulo's lips for a while longer in case it had been some mistake. Still nothing.

"Please Paulo!" she whispered "Don't do this to me now."

Li took a deep breath. She clasped his hand in hers and kissed his cheek. Li lifted her hands high and pressed down frantically on his chest. Tears streaming down her face, she did this again and again. She kept pushing and pushing, each time getting more desperate. Li was about to give up and break down when Paulo suddenly coughed. Li's screwed up eyes snapped open. Paulo too had his eyes open now. He leaned over and vomited violently on the cold, hard floor. Paulo squinted in front of him.

"Li?"

* * *

**Oooh! I don't know about you but that definitely sent shivers down **_**my**_** spine! Review, as always, are very much appreciated. Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oki-doki, guys. The next chapter of my fic. It's not very long, but I wanted to get to the action – which will hopefully come in the next chapter. I'm going to leave you to get on and read (and hopefully review) now. **

**Disclaimer: Alpha Force isn't mine, its Chris Ryan's. Anything you do not recognise from Alpha Force is mine.**

**  
**Alex dizzily made his way along the dark corridor. His brain was a whirl: the adrenaline that came with escape was pumping through his body faster than his blood. Every time he passed a door, he pushed it open and peered inside, trying to find the other four members of Alpha Force. He knew that he was at risk of disturbing his captors, but to find his friends that was a risk that he'd have to take. He'd been lucky so far, but if he let his guard down, he could be discovered at any moment. Alex opened a few more doors, and then suddenly a huge rush of fatigue zoomed through his body. He leaned against the wall as he was so dizzy. A terrible pain suddenly shot up his arm. He rolled up his sleeve and saw a needle mark near his shoulder. The test tubes in the lab! Alex was being used as a guinea pig! As Alex fell unconscious, he frowned. Something wasn't right.

* * *

"What's going on?" Paulo croaked weakly, reaching his hand up to touch an ever-growing lump on his forehead.

Li paused. "I don't know," she finally admitted, not wanting to distress the big Argentinean, but deciding that, in the long run, lies would hurt more than the truth.

Paulo took this in and then looked around him. The dark room made him feel claustrophobic, but at least he was awake now. He was vaguely aware of Li chattering away madly, but he knew that it was as much to comfort her as it was him.

Then he remembered.

"Where's Alex?" he asked, his eyes wide with alarm.

He looked over to Li, expecting an answer. The one thing he did not expect her to do was what she did. Li dissolved into tears.

Paulo was astonished. Li never cried. He put his arm around her for comfort, and then decided that there was only one thing to do.

"_Don't worry be happy. Dooo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. Don't worry be happy_" he sang softly into her ear. Li smiled at his gruff tones and joined in with him; humming along to the song they knew and loved.

* * *

Amber awoke to the sounds of laughter and singing. She glanced over to Paulo and Li. They seemed contented enough in their own little world. Amber decided to talk to them in a minute, when her brain was back to normal. She blinked hard, trying to make her eyes adjust to the darkness. Amber came to her senses much more quickly than the others had: she was used to situations when a clear head was crucial. Her bleary eyes moved to the glow-in-the-dark face of her watch. 9. 45am. It was time for her first insulin injection of the day. She reached down to unzip her belt-pouch which held her necessary 'bits and bobs' as Alpha Force called them.

But her pouch wasn't there. She sat up immediately, looking all around her, checking if she had just misplaced it.

Nope. Her belt-pouch was nowhere to be seen.

"Rats." she muttered to herself.

* * *

**There we go guys, chapter five is up. There might not be an update for about 3 weeks to a month because of schoolwork and stuff (grr...) but I'll try to write in between. As always, reviews are appreciated. Thank you!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, maybe this won't take me so long! It's snowing so much that loads of schools are closed (yippee) so I have loads of time for writing in between homework & sledging! Sorry, I know I said that there would be action in this chapter and there isn't much, but I actually, actually swear that there will be in the next one.**

"What's up Amber?" Li and Paulo asked the black-American girl simultaneously after hearing her curse several times.

Amber was frantic, searching everywhere, even through Paulo's backpack which was slightly alarming.

"Lost my flippin' insulin!" she replied angrily.

Li was about to ask why that was so important right at that moment, but after looking at her watch, she realised that it was 15 minutes past her set injection time, and if she didn't find her pen and inject soon, her blood sugar levels would rise and she might go into a coma.

"Oh, God," Li bit her lip. "Is there anything that we can do to help?"

"Erm...helping me look maybe?" snapped Amber, frustrated. "Oh, sorry Li...I didn't mean..." Amber tailed off, blushing.

"It doesn't matter." Li shrugged. "Now then... I believe we have a belt pouch to find!"

Li, Paulo and Amber searched for a good fifteen minutes before they finally decided to try and wake Hex. Four heads were better than three...right?

Amber crawled over to Hex's still body. "Hex? Wake up!" Hex made a jerky movement. "Um...Paulo? Hex's breathing's kinda jerky..."

"Really?" Paulo frowned before straightening up and walking to Amber's side. "Ooh, that doesn't look too good. It looks like he's in considerable pain! OK, I think we might have to split up. We need to find Alex – It's a lot better to have the five of us together, don't you think?" The two girls nodded their agreement. "Seeing as Amber's low on insulin, I think you should go, Li."

"OK," Li nodded. "But won't we need to keep in touch?"

"Mobiles are a bit risky. Check Hex's bag. I swear he said he was bringing the earpieces on this mission." Amber instructed Paulo.

"Amber, you stay with me," Paulo took charge again, searching through Hex's backpack.

"Huh! Charming. They let Hex keep his backpack, but they don't let me keep my belt-pouch. Typical!" Amber muttered under her breath.

"Do I need anything else?" Li asked as Paulo handed around three earpieces.

"Just your martial arts skills, I should think," Paulo grinned. "Oh, and the tracking device. Locket or ring?"

"Um, ring," Li decided, taking the gold ring with a tiny tracker set in like a jewel. "OK, guys. I'll text every ten minutes."

"Cool," Paulo dug out the tracking system from Hex's bag. "Oh, and Li...take care of yourself."

_We're running through a cave. It's dark and damp and we don't know where we're going. Alex and Li are surging ahead of me. Paulo and Amber are dragging behind. We're being chased: by what we don't know. My chest is so painful; each step I take is like a dagger ramming into my heart. I stare behind at Paulo and Amber. Something's wrong. Within a second Amber has been swallowed up by darkness. I scream her name again and again, but it seems like no-one can hear me. I shriek and shriek until my throat is hoarse but nothing happens. Paulo is being dragged back to the blackness and he is sucked in. It's my turn next. The darkness whirls faster and faster towards me. My feet pelt the ground at top speed but in reality I'm never going to escape. My head jerks back, eager to be sucked in to the dark and nothingness. My feet now lift off the ground and I am sucked headfirst into nothing. I scream and scream but again nobody comes. I can suddenly hear voices all around me, whispering to make me come closer. I scream for Alex, for Li, Paulo and Amber are helpless now, but still nothing happens._

Hex awoke, drenched with sweat and his breathing spiking his chest. A very pale Amber was looking down at him, worried. Paulo was searching madly through his medical kit.

"Paulo? Amber? But...you were sucked in. I don't understand..." Hex's forehead creased into a frown.

Paulo's head jerked up as he heard the North-London accent.

"Don't worry, Hex, you're fine and we're fine. Everything's fine."Paulo smiled reassuringly.

"Where're Alex and Li?" Hex asked, raising an eyebrow as he saw that two of his friends weren't there.

"Li's gone to look for Alex, he wasn't here in the first place." Paulo told him.

"God, I'm thirsty. Has anyone got any water...?"

Hex dug in his back pack for the water he knew was in there. He pulled it out and passed it to Amber.

"Thanks... ow! My stomach hurts..."

Hex eyed Amber. Something wasn't right. She was breathing too fast. He reached over and put a hand to her forehead. She flinched but didn't make an attempt to move away. Her skin was cold and dry. All were symptoms of Ketoacidosis... This was very bad.

"Amber when did you last take your-" Hex began.

"Hm?" Amber muttered absently.

"They took it." grunted Paulo.

"Oh, God, did they?" Hex gasped, realising that this spelt disaster.

"Uh-huh," said Paulo. "Her injection's forty-five minutes late."

**So, people, there's chapter six. Thank-you to all my lovely reviewers – emmadactryl, be-nice-to-nerds, spinkle22, Lids25 and beckyno1. Thank-you, and keep reviewing! It's very much appreciated. **

**I'll hopefully update soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone! Me again. The snow's all gone (sniff) so the updates unfortunately won't be as quick. Sorry! OK, here's chapter 7!**

**Disclaimer: Characters and anything else you recognise from Alpha Force belong to Chris Ryan. **

* * *

Li quickly and quietly moved along the dimly-lit corridor. She had found no trace of human life anywhere, apart from a few empty, stained coffee mugs. As for Alex, she hadn't seen a thing. A few minutes later, Li reached what looked like a dead end. She was about to turn back when she noticed something unusual. There was a concealed door, painted black – the same colour as the walls – to blend in. She tried the handle but, as she had suspected it would, it jammed. It was locked. Li would normally karate-kick it down without hesitation, but something made her stop. She realised that making that kind of noise would most certainly draw attention to her presence, and the last thing on her To-Do List was 'get discovered'! Hmm... Li had to think of another way to get the door open without arousing suspicion. That was it! Her hair grip! Why didn't she think of it before? They always did it in the movies! Without a moment's hesitation, Li slid the hair grip out of her glossy black hair and picked the lock.

Li didn't realise that picking a lock would take such tremendous concentration! She went red with the effort, but when she finally managed to unlock the door, it swung open easily. Li looked around the space carefully and then, satisfied that there was no-one there, strolled inside. The interior was shabby, and the two sofas that furnished the room were ragged and full of holes. There was another door that had been carelessly left open which led to a staircase. Now, anyone but Alpha Force would have immediately run into the room and rushed up the stairs, but when you thought about it, who would leave a door open in a place like this? Li decided that it was almost certainly a trap to lead them straight into the hands of their captors. Li took two deep breaths – in, out, in, out. She prepared herself for some serious kung-fu moves. She had to act just like anyone would, naturally walk through, as if not suspecting anything in the world. A couple more deep breaths and she was ready. Li strolled casually into the room with the tall staircase. Her muscles tensed but she tried not to show it. The squeak of the shining polished floor. That was the give-away. Her suspicions had been right. There was someone waiting for her, to trap her in their hands. Without a second's thought she turned a backward somersault and kicked her captor squarely in the stomach. Li came to face her now unconscious victim and saw that he was a stocky well-built man. He had quite a young face and his features were very apparent. He looked like he often visited the gym to work-up his bulging muscles. Li stared at him for a while longer, memorising every detail of his smirking face. Satisfied that she could remember his face, she turned and shot up the stairs.

* * *

Amber couldn't take notice of anything that was going on around her. Every now and then she would hear Paulo calling her name faintly and feel him checking her pulse, but otherwise she was oblivious to the dark room. She knew that she was slowly slipping away into the depths of unconsciousness, but she'd been here many times before. Just after her Mom and Dad had been killed, she was so depressed that she just didn't care about her own life any more and stopped bothering about her insulin and blood tests. At the time she'd been in hospital in a dangerous condition three times in just one year. That was because she wasn't injecting her shots of insulin and so developed Ketoacidosis, which can be life threatening. Amber suddenly felt how dry her throat was. She needed water, and fast, but through the mist that seemed to cover her eyes, she couldn't focus on anything that was in the room so it was impossible to see if there was any water around. Suddenly a huge wave of tiredness took her body and she slipped away to sleep.

* * *

**So, there it is! As always, reviews are very much appreciated and thank you for all the reviews so far! Thanks for reading**!


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! Wow, it's been ages. I'm soooooooooooo (etc) sorry that there hasn't been an update for so long. Anyway, please R+R, comments, CC etc are all appreciated, and big thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! Your comments have really helped!**

* * *

Li glanced around nervously. Her surroundings had completely changed. From dingy dark walls to gleaming white, from a musty smell to the odour of disinfectant blasting up Li's nose. She was in awe of it all, gazing around in wonderment. A shiver crept up her spine; she knew that Alex was close. Her mind wandered back to Amber. How was she coping without the dose of insulin which right now would save her life? Li pulled herself together and reminded herself of the task on hand: finding Alex. She took one last deep breath, and stalked confidently down the corridor.

* * *

Paulo was getting more and more frantic by the second. In all his years of medical experience, he had never been in any situation even close to the one that he was in now. He would hate to admit it to any of the other members of the team, but he didn't quite know what to do, let alone how to do it!

Amber groaned something - what she was saying was impossible to work out. He noticed her dry, cracked lips and reached for Hex's water bottle lying next to him. He unscrewed the lid and placed it to Amber's lips. At first, she lapped it up eagerly, but then the water started trickling down her chin and onto her black summer blouse. Looking at her arms, Paulo noticed that Amber had goose bumps, and now he saw that she was noticeably shivering. He frowned sceptically, that blouse was no way substantial for the cold air in here, but then, Alpha Force had never expected to end up here when they had come out on this seemingly simple mission. Paulo sighed. He pulled off his black jumper and gently stretched it over Amber's head.

* * *

Li crept along the endless-looking corridor. There were no corners, no twists or turns; Li hadn't expected what she saw ahead of her. On either side of her, there were several doors, all painted white. Li jumped at the slightest of noises, and naturally jumped around when she heard voices behind her. Her stomach knotted as her eyes fixed on two men in white lab coats climbing up the staircase behind her. On reflex, she leaped behind the very handily placed rubber plant and prayed that the two men would walk through one of the four doors in front of the plant so that they wouldn't discover her. They didn't.

Li held her breath. She knew that it was over now. She'd failed. She'd failed to find Alex and she'd failed to find Amber's insulin and blood glucose testing kit. Suddenly a slam made Li's eyes snap open. Slowly she turned around. The two men were nowhere to be seen.

* * *

'Come on, come on!' Paulo whispered, urging Li to hurry up and find Alex so that they could get out of this dump and get Amber and Hex proper medical attention, which was something they needed, NOW! Thankfully, Amber had stopped shivering now, so the thick black jumper seemed to be doing some good, at least. His eyes darted back to Hex's body. Paulo knitted his eyebrows together in a frown. Hex was breathing quickly; it sounded shallow. Far too shallow. Uh-oh. Paulo checked his watch. The seconds ticked by slowly. It was now almost two hours past the time Amber should have injected her insulin. Paulo was startled when he saw that Amber's chest wasn't moving. His heart stopped. An ice-cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He crawled over to Amber. He felt for a pulse. It was weak. Faint. There wasn't much time.

* * *

Li smiled a secret smile. Slowly she crept out of her hiding place. Looking around, she saw that the corridor was once again deserted. This was too easy. She began to tiptoe again. Li had to be extra careful, as she didn't know where the men had gone. They could come out of one of the many doors at any second. Suddenly she heard voices. She worked out which of the rooms it was coming from and crept over to the door. The two voices were harsh. Both male. But they weren't speaking in English. They were speaking in French. Li tried to translate in her head.

"_New batch...blond boy...weak...easy to test on...dark skinned...pouch"_

New batch of what? Blond boy, that must be Alex. Weak. They were probably still talking about Alex. Alex wasn't someone who Li would call weak, but... Dark-skinned, that's Amber. Pouch...belt pouch! She tried to tune back into the conversation that the men were having to see if they said where it was, but before she could, she felt warm breath on her ear.

She heard a voice with a harsh Russian accent: "Put up your hands. Don't try to escape."

* * *

**Cliff-hanger! Don't ya just love 'em? Please review, I know it's been ages, but I hope people are still reading it!**


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